American Elm?

[bigbendmarine]

Visited my Mom in upstate South Carolina this weekend and asked her about the species of one of the trees lining her driveway. She said she wasn't sure so I took a closer look and captured a few photos.

Leaves were sandpaper rough, alternated on the branch, and had sawtooth edges.



Bark definitely had quite a distinctive pattern.



Best guess from what little bit of internet research I've done is American Elm? If so, knocking on wood while I say this, it's sure relatively healthy and quite a specimen tree!
Notice online that the shape / form varies quite a bit -- I absolutely love the shape of the one in their yard.

 

[SwampCat]

Looks like it to me. We have a few around my place

 

[j-bird]

An elm is an elm to me.....

The bark looks more like what we call a red elm here, which is also know as a slippery elm. Slippery elm leaf is more round before it comes to a point (similar to a basswood), while the american elm tends to be more be a more gradual taper to a point (more like a hackberry).

Only value an elm has to me is identifying a dead one as the "old timers" claim the decaying remains of an elm is a goldmine for finding morel mushrooms.

 

[Boll Weevil]

Only value an elm has to me is identifying a dead one as the "old timers" claim the decaying remains of an elm is a goldmine for finding morel mushrooms.

True. One day during turkey season years ago I was walking back to the house tired and head hung low after a morning of getting whipped. Stopped for a breather and there was 1, 2, 3...ended up collecting 110 under and around that single dying elm tree.

 

[hillHuntR]

If you would snap a ridge of bark off the tree by hand and look at the cross-section....american elm will have red and white alternating layers like stripes on the U.S. flag. Red elm is just red inside bark. Thats how i was taught to ID it anyway

Sent from my SM-S320VL using Tapatalk

 

[TreeDaddy]

I hinge all of mine

Not of any real habitat value otherwise

bill

 

[bigbendmarine]

Mainly just shared the post seeking confirmation that the tree's an elm so I could let my Mother know the species. While I typically DO care about habitat value on my own place, not as high a priority for her. Blessedly her property has many relatively heavy-bearing oaks on it and no shortage of deer, turkey, and other wildlife. Habitat-value aside, I do admittedly like the shape and health of the particular tree, especially in light of what I've read about dutch elm disease. Many thanks to all for the id related info.

 

[SwampCat]

Elm is one of the first flowers bees start working in late winter. Red elm/american also produces a very nice looking lumber with deep red heartwood

 

[ksgobbler]

My best treestand is up in a big american elm

 

[Tap]

It's definitely an Elm. My deer go nuts over the stuff. I recently released an apple tree that was being crowded by an Elm variety that's exactly like the one in the OP pic. It was just on the edge of a clover plot and when I hinged the elm, the top 6 or 8 feet ended up resting out in the clover. All summer, I've watched deer from my kitchen window, stand in the clover, often on their hind legs, trying to get every last Elm leaf on that hinge-cut tree. Elm hinges better than probably any other species on my property. Cut it high and the deer will devour everything they can reach and the high cut keeps some out of their reach so the tree survives. I have Elm that the new growth after the hinge cut has been re-cut 2 or 3 times.
Elm makes a nice stand tree, too. The bark is nice and quiet unlike cherry of hickory and it usually has a decent amount of branches for cover.

 

[H20fwler]

Agree elm.

My smaller place has them, a few really big ones and lots of little ones...makes the morel hunting good.